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Giving Gesshin Heiji some love

Discussion in 'Sharpening forum' started by schanop, Apr 23, 2014.

  1. schanop

    schanop Founding Member

    I bought a Gesshin Heiji semi stainless gyuto of Huw for the sake of sharpening fun. It was in a pretty bad shape when Huw got it, and he put in some amount of work into it to get it to perform somewhat.

    Here's how it was in the original sale thread. It was a bit thick, and shinogi line was not usually what you would see in a new Heiji.

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    Here's how it was when I got it, in comparison with my Carbon Heiji gyuto. Blade was cleaned up. Shinogi line was quite a fair bit more crisp. Secondary bevel width towards the tip was widen. The knife was a bit thinner behind the edge, but still was quite thick such that it wouldn't cut like my three other Heiji's.

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    What I aimed to do was making shinogi line even more crisp; making secondary bevel wider towards the tip; thinning it a bit more; replacing its wonkily mounted handle; and making it cut like my other Heiji's. In the end, I have achieved all of those, but I have failed to maintain the tip profile. Probably due to my wobbling during thinning the tip area, tip was raised a bit higher, and it looked more curvy than a usual Heiji.

    Here's how it currently is after going through a few cycles of thinning, sharpening, test cutting.

    [​IMG]
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    You can also head to this album for more pictures https://plus.google.com/photos/100084242983096319675/albums/6003162030596289937

    Conclusion is that this was a fun project giving this Gesshin Heiji some love. Semi stainless version is easy to sharpen. I didn't find that it is any more difficult that Swedish carbon version.
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2014
  2. Huw

    Huw Founding Member

    Great work Chanop! Glad to see it got the attention it needed.
     
  3. schanop

    schanop Founding Member

    Thank Huw, for another fun item to play with.
     
  4. That looks really good. Very good job.
     
  5. Significant transformation.
     
  6. EdipisReks

    EdipisReks The Picasso of Creepiness Founding Member

    Nice job! I don't like tips to be that high, but I've be lying if I said I hadn't done the same thing.
     
  7. schanop

    schanop Founding Member

    Yup Jacob, my aim was to keep it lower too.
     
  8. EdipisReks

    EdipisReks The Picasso of Creepiness Founding Member

    It's easily fixed, but it will require more thinning after dropping the tip. I'd use it, though, instead, as I bet it cuts nicely. :)
     
  9. Asteger

    Asteger Founding Member

    Looks much better, great contrast, and the shinogi 'crisper' as you said. Question: the kanji seems to be quite worn down, maybe more after you worked on it. Did you even put it to the stones along the sides above the bevels? One (albeit drastic) way to reduce thickness and maybe coax out the shinogi, I imagine.

    The shinogi also wobbles a good bit. (I know, not your fault Chanop.) I haven't owned a Heiji, but might this be a specimen of less consistent quality?
     
  10. schanop

    schanop Founding Member

    It cuts very nicely now, EdipisReks, fairly similarly to how my my other Heiji's cut.

    @Kev, Kanji has wormed down since arrival. Huw sanded off some surface scratches that were there in the original sale. Actually I did what you said with stone as a way to try to crisp up shinogi line. I have a few small pieces of king 800/1k stones that I use together with sand paper wrapped on a wine cork.

    Heiji finish is on rustic side. On all five that I have handled, there are some local thickness variations along heel to toe, and that's the main cause of wobbliness as far as I see. So, you would not too often see a clean straight shinogi line on his gyuto like typical line one single bevel knife. Even a number of Gesshin Heiji's, which already have better fit and finish on average, have some sort of wobbling in my eyes. Not that this is a flaw in the knife, just how it is.
     
  11. skiajl6297

    skiajl6297 Founding Member

    Great work here.
     

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